INFORMATION management is effective when the receiver understands and decodes the message correctly and as intended by the messenger. In achieving this end, the agents of communication must build three major ingredients, namely credibility, trust and facts, for the sole aim of winning the psyche of the final receiver.
The credibility of the agent(s) of information in the minds of the potential receiver is first and foremost the pivot on which any understanding of the information is built. Openness, honesty, listening, disseminating and feedback are the hallmarks of effective information.
The high trust deficit in government’s dealings with Nigerians is traditionally built on suspicion and doubt, especially when it is believed that “the rich man’s joke is always funny to those who benefit or intend to benefit from his ‘stomach infrastructure’, even if the rich man’s jokes are most bizarre or irritating.”
I think that the Presidency should reach out to opposition figures like Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose at this moment.
This simple effort could douse the tension in the polity. The president should note that this suggested move could mark the beginning of positive thinking among Nigerians across ethnic and political divides.
Akinola Iwilade,
iwiakinolagmail.com
and then